Vehicle door latch with forked latching rotors

ABSTRACT

A pawl includes a detent which hooks against one leg of a lower forked latching rotor to hold the rotor in a secondary latched position and hooks against the other leg of the rotor to hold the rotor in a fully latched position. A second detent on the pawl blocks against an upper latching rotor to hold the latter in its fully and secondary latched positions.

United States Patent [1 1 Atwood et al.

[ Nov. 20, 1973 VEHICLE noon LATCH WITH FORKED LATCHING ROTORS [75] Inventors: Lyle C. Atwood; Robert E. Slattery,

both of Rockford, Ill.

[73] Assignee: Atwood Vacuum Machine Company,

Rockford, Ill.

[22] Filed: Nov. 5, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 195,943

[52] U.S. Cl. 292/48, 292/216 [51] Int. Cl. E056 3/26 [58] Field of Search 24/230 A, 230 AP,

24/230 AU, 241 PP, 241 SB; 292/48, 78, 216, 280, DIG. 26, DIG. 27, 44

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,232,656 2/ 1966 Coverley et al 292/280 Primary ExaminerRichard E. Moore Attorney-Wolfe et al.

[57] ABSTRACT A pawl includes a detent which hooks against one leg of a lower forked latching rotor to hold the rotor in a secondary latched position and hooks against the other leg of the rotor to hold the rotor in a fully latched position. A second detent on the pawl blocks against an upper latching rotor to hold the latter in its fully and secondary latched positions.

6 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures VEHICLE DOOR LATCH WITH FORKED LATCHING ROTORS I BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a latch for vehicle doors and, more particularly, to a relatively high strength latch with a forked latching rotor having a leg whose free end is normally engaged by a pawl to-hold the rotor in a fully latched position and to prevent the rotor from turning to an unlatched position. The invention has even more specific reference to a latch which includes a pair of forked latching rotors adapted to mutually embrace a striker to hold the vehicle door in a tightly closed condition. In turning from their unlatched positions to their fully latched positions, the rotors turn through secondary latched positions and, if held in the latter positions, the rotors keep the door in a partially latched condition. Prior latches of the same general type as under consideration herein are disclosed in US. I

Pat. NOS. 2,987,336; 3,434,198 and 3,545,800.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The general aim of the present invention is to provide a latch of the above character which is simpler in construction'than prior latches of the same general type. A more detailed object is to achieve this end by using the same pawl to hold both rotors in their fully latched positions and preferably in their secondary latched positions. A further object is to provide such a pawl which not only'engages the free end of one leg of one of the BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS- FIG. 1 is a fragmentary cross-section taken horizontally. through the door of a vehicle equipped with a new and improved latch embodying the novel features of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary cross-section taken substantially. along the line 2-2 of FIG. I.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are elevational views of the latch as seen in the direction of the arrows 3-3 and 4-4, re spectively, of FIG. I.

FIG. 5 is a cross-section taken substantially along the line 5-5'of FIG. 1 and showing the rotors in their fully latched positions FIGS. 6-and 7 are views similar to FIG. 5 but showing the rotors in their secondary latched and unlatched 'positions, respectively.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentarycross-section taken substantially along the line 8-8'of FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view-of the pawl.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION-OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As shown in the drawings for purposes of illustration, the invention is embodied in alatch ltl'particu'larly adapted for use with the door II of an automotive vehicle and including a pair of pivoted latching rotors l3 and 14 (FIGS. 5 to 7) carried by the door and coacting with a pin-type striker 15 mounted on a post 16 (FIG. 1) of the vehicle frame to hold the, door in atightly closed position. Herein, each rotor is a fork-like element which is formed with a striker-receiving recess or throat 17 (FIG. 7), the latter being definedbetw'een elongated inner and outer legs 19 and 20. As the door is swung closed, contact of, the striker with the inside edges of the outer legs 20 turns the rotors first from un latched positions shown in FIG. 7 to intermediate or secondary latched positions shown in FIG. 6 arui,then to fully latched positions shown in FIG. 5 When the rotors are in their secondary latched positions, the striker 15 seats partially in the throats 17 of the rotors and the door is held latched but is slightly ajar. When the rotors are in their fully latched positions, the striker seats fully against the bottoms of the throats and the door is held in a fully closed and tightly latched condition.

As shown in FIG. 2, the latching rotors I3 and 14 are mounted on a support formed by a plastic case 21 adapted to be fastened to the outside of the end panel 23 of the door 11 by bolts 24, the rear face of the case being covered by a plate 25 which is fastened to the case by the bolts. The rotor ,13 is joumaled to turn about a horizontal pin 26 (FIGS. 2 and 5) supported by the case while the rotor 14 is disposed in overlapping side-by-side relation with the rotor 13 and is joumaled to turn about a similar pin 27 located directly above the pin 26. The two pins are located on opposite sides of an elongated recess 29 (FIG. 5 which is formed in the case and the plate to accommodate the striker 15 when the door is swung closed.

As will be explained in more detail subsequently, turning of the rotors I3 and 14 to their unlatched posi-, tions when the door 1 I is closed is prevented by a pawl 33 which is pivoted to turn about a pin 34 supported by the case 21, the pin 34 paralleling the upper rotor pin 27 and being located just above and just outwardly of the latter pin. Formed on the upper edgeof the pawl is an elongated finger 35 (FIGS. 1 and 9) which projects through the case and through an opening in the end panel 23 of the door so as to extend into the interior of the door.

Tripping of the pawl 33 to unlatch the door 11 from the outside thereof is effected by a contactor 37 (FIG. 4) which is pivoted on a flange 39 at 40. The flange lies along the inside of the end panel 23 and is fastened to the latter by the same bolts 24 used to hold the case 21 on the door. The contactor is formed with a slot 41 (FIG. 4) which receives the finger 35 of the pawl 33 and, when the contactoris swung counterclockwise by plastic case 21 and held by a tab 45 on the upper edge tion shown in FIG. 3, a lug 51 on the upper end of the locking lever overlies and engages the upper edge of the contactor 37 to prevent the latter from being swung counterclockwise and tripping the pawl 33. swinging of the locking lever between its locked and unlocked positions may be effected from the inside of the door by a garnish button-actuated lever 53 (FIG. 3) connected to the locking lever and pivoted on the flange 49 at 54 or from the outside of the door by a key-actuated lever 55 (FIG. 4) pivoted on the flange 39 at 56 and connected to the lever 53. The locking lever 46 also may be swung to its unlocked position by clockwise (FIG. 3) swinging of a lever 57 pivoted on the flange 49 at 59 and adapted to be turned by the remote actuator (not shown) on the inside of the door, the lever 57 being formed with an arm 61 for engaging the upper end portion of the locking lever to move the latter to its unlocked position. When the lever 57 is turned clockwise by the remote actuator, the arm 61 first turns the locking lever 46 to its unlocked position if the locking lever has been set in its locked position. Thereafter, a second arm 63 moves beneath and swings the contactor 37 counterclockwise to lift the finger 35 of the pawl 33 and effect unlatching of the door 10. The door may be locked from the outside without a key by swinging the locking lever 46 to its locked position with the garnish buttonactuated lever 53 when the door is open and thereafter by simply swinging the door shut.

Returning now to the specific construction of the pawl 33, it will be seen in FIG. 9 that the inner end portion of the pawl is formed with a downwardly projecting hook or detent 66. When the lower rotor 13 is in its fully latched position (FIG. 5), the detent 66 hooks against a shoulder 67 which is formed on the inner edge of the inner leg 19 of the lower rotor at the free end of such leg. By virtue of the detent 66 hooking the shoulder 67, the lower rotor is held in its fully latched position and is prevented from turning toward its unlatched position. As pointed out in US. Pat. No. 3,545,800, hooking of the pawl on the inner leg of the rotor 13 provides a high strength arrangement since any forceopen load applied to the rotor by the striker pin is resisted by both the pin 26 which supports the rotor and the pin 34 which supports the pawl.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the same pawl 33 which hooks the inner leg 19 of the lower rotor 13 to hold the latter in its fully latched position also engages the outer leg of the rotor to hold the rotor in its secondary latched position. Thus, as'the lower rotor 13 is turned clockwise from its unlatched position shown in FIG. 7 toward its secondary latched position shown in FIG. 6, the outer leg 20 of the rotor first engages the detent 66 on the pawl'33 and cams the latter in a clockwise direction about the pin 34. Then, as the inner edge of the outer leg 20 moves past the detent 66, the spring 44 swings the pawl reversely to cause the detent to movedownwardly alongside'the inner edge of the leg (see FIG. 6). If the door is closed no further, the detent66 engages the inner edge of the leg 20 near the free end thereof and holds the rotor 13 in the secondary latched position shown in FIG. 6 so as to prevent the rotor from turning counterclockwise toward the unlatched position.

If the door 11 is closed completely, continued turning of the lower rotor 13 causes the inner leg 19 to cam the pawl 33 clockwise once again and then the detent 66 drops alongside and hooks the shoulder 67 to hold the rotor in its fully latched position shown inFIGJS. Accordingly, the same pawl 33 first engages the outer leg 20 of the lower rotor 13' to hold the rotor in its secondary latched position and then engages the inner leg 19 of the rotor to hold the rotor i n'it's fully latched position thereby to provide ahigh strength latch which is comparatively simple in construction as a result of the 'use of a single pawl to hold the rotor in both its secondary and fully latched positions.

The present invention alsocon'terripla tessimplifying the latch further by providing an'additional detent on the same pawl 33 in order to hold the upper'latching rotor 14 securely in its fully and secondary latched' positions. As shown in FIG. 5, 8 a'nd9, the additional detent 70 simply comprises a small button-like member located near the outer end portion of the main pawl 33 and fitted over the pin 34. A short finger 71 (FIG. 5) protruding from the detent 70 projects snugly into a hole 73 (FIG. 9) in the pawl 33 so as to turn in unison with the latter. The detent 70 is offset from the detent 66 and is disposed in the same vertical plane as the upper rotor 14.

When the upper rotor 14 is in its secondary latched position (FIG. 6), a lug 74 formed integrally with the inner end of the detent 70 blocks against a shoulder 75 on the upper edge of the upper rotor and prevents movement of the rotor toward its unlatched position if an opening force is applied to the door 11. When the upper rotor is in its fully latched position, the lug 74 blocks against a shoulder 76 as shown in FIG. 5 to prevent tu rning of the rotor from such position, the shoulder 76 being formed on the rotor and being spaced angularly from the shoulder 75. As the pawl 33 is swung clockwise to lift the detent 66 out of engagement with the lower rotor 13, the detent 70 also is lifted out of engagement with the upper rotor 14 to free the latter for movement to the unlatched position shown in FIG. 7.

Advantageously, the spring 45 which urges the pawl 33 counterclockwise is used also to bias the rotors l3 and 14 toward their unlatched positions thereby to eliminate the need of employing separate springs for biasing the rotors. When the pawl 33 is tripped and lifted upwardly from the position shown in FIG. 5, the striker 15 causes the rotors to turn slightly toward their unlatched positions as the door 11 is initially opened. If the pawl thereafter is immediately allowed to return to its lowered position, a cam surface 77 on the lower edge of the pawl adjacent the detent 66 engages the upper edge of the inner leg 19 of the lower rotor 13. The spring 45 acting on the pawl causes the surface 77 to bear against the upper edge of the leg 19 to cam the lower rotor to its secondary latched position shown in FIG. 6. At the same time, the lower edge of the lug 74 bears against the upper edge of the shoulder 76 to bias and cam the upper rotor 14 to its secondary latched position.

After the pawl 33 has been lifted and the door 11 has been. opened sufficiently far to move the rotors l3 and 14 from their secondary latched positions toward their unlatched positions, the cam surface 77, upon subsequent lowering of the pawl, engages the upper edge of the outer leg 20 of the lower rotor 13 and cams the latter to its unlatched position, the spring 45 urging the lower rotor toward the unlatched position and serving to yieldably hold the rotor in that position as shown in FIG. 7. In addition, the lower edge of the lug 74 engages the extreme upper edge of the upper rotor 14 (see FIG. 7) and coacts with the spring 45 to first cam the upper rotor to its unlatched position and then to yieldably hold the upper rotor in the unlatched position. Accordingly, the return spring 45 for the pawl 33 helps turn both rotors toward and holds the rotors in their unlatched positions so that additional springs for biasing the rotors are not required.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the present invention brings to the art a new and improved high strength, dual rotor latch 10 in which a single pawl 33 is effective to hold both rotors l3 and 14 against movement toward their unlatched positions when the door 11 is closed. Moreover, the single spring 45 serves to bias not only the pawl but also the two rotors and assists in turning the rotors toward their unlatched positions. The latch thus is of simplified construction when compared with prior latches of the same general type.

We claim as our invention:

1. A latch adapted to move in an inward directioninto engagement with a striker to hold closed a vehicle door having inner and outer sides, said latch comprising a support, upper and lower latching rotors mounted on said support to turn about vertically spaced axes from unlatched positions to fully latched positions, each of said rotors having inner and outer legs defining a throat for receiving said striker, the outer legs of said rotors engaging said striker and causing said rotors to turn from said unlatched positions to said fully latched positions when said latch is moved in said inward direction, the inner and outer legs of each rotor being located on the inner and outer sides, respectively, of said striker when the rotor is in its fully latched position, a pawl pivotally mounted on said support, a first detent located on and movable with said pawl and engageable with the free end of the inner leg of said lower rotor to hold the latter in its fully latched position, and a second detent on said pawl and movable in unison with said first detent and into engagement with said upper rotor to hold the latter in its fully latched position.

2. A latch as defined in claim 1 in which said rotors are offset axially from one another and lie in first and second side-by-side planes, said first and second detents also being offset from one another and lying in said first and second planes, respectively.

3. A latch as defined in claim 2 in which said first detent comprises a hook on the inner end portion of said pawl and positioned to engage the inner edge of the inner leg of said lower rotor when the latter is in its fully latched position, said second detent comprising a lug positioned outwardly of said first detent and positioned to block against a shoulder on said upper rotor when the latter is in its fully latched position.

4. A latch as defined in claim 3 in which said hook is .formed integrally with said pawl, said lug being formed separately of said pawl but being anchored rigidly to the pawl to turn in unison with the latter.

5. A latch as defined in claim 3 in which said rotors turn through secondary latched positions in turning from said unlatched positions to said fully latched positions, said hook being engageable with the inner edge of the outer leg of said lower rotor to hold the latter in its secondary latched position, and said lug being engageable with a second shoulder on said upper rotor to hold the latter in its secondary latched position.

6. A latch as defined in claim 1 further including a single spring for biasing said pawl into engagement with said rotors, said spring acting through said pawl to bias said rotors toward said unlatched positions as the rotors are moved from their fully latched positions. 

2. A latch as defined in claim 1 in which said rotors are offset axially from one another and lie in first and second side-by-side planes, said first and second detents also being offset from one another and lying in said first and second planes, respectively.
 3. A latch as defined in claim 2 in which said first detent comprises a hook on the inner end portion of said pawl and positioned to engage the inner edge of the inner leg of said lower rotor when the latter is in its fully latched position, said second detent comprising a lug positioned outwardly of said first detent and positioned to block against a shoulder on said upper rotor when the latter is in its fully latched position.
 4. A latch as defined in claim 3 in which said hook is formed integrally with said pawl, said lug being formed separately of said pawl but being anchored rigidly to the pawl to turn in unison with the latter.
 5. A latch as defined in claim 3 in which said rotors turn through secondary latched positions in turning from said unlatched positions to said fully latched positions, said hook being engageable with the inner edge of the outer leg of said lower rotor to hold the latter in its secondary latched position, and said lug being engageable with a second shoulder on said upper rotor to hold the latter in its secondary latched position.
 6. A latch as defined in claim 1 further including a single spring for biasing said pawl into engagement with said rotors, said spring acting through said pawl to bias said rotors toward said unlatched positions as the rotors are moved from their fully latched positions. 